11VETERANS of FOREIGN WARS
Department of New York
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11
POW/MIA PROGRAM 2012-2013
PURPOSE: To impliment programs at Post, District and Department levels that will raise and intensify awareness of the POW/MIA issue among our members and within our communities.
GOALS:
1.) To achieve the fullest possible accounting of American service personnel who are missing in action, and the return of those held as prisioners of war.
2.) To assist the families of POW/MIA service personnel.
METHODS: Veterans of Foreign Wars, including the Ladies and Men's Auxiliaries, should maintain high visibility of the POW/MIA issue.
1.) Fly or display the POW/MIA flag at your post.
2.) Incluse the POW/MIA flag in your color guard.
3.) Appoint a POW/MIA Chairman who will do the job, NOT just accept the position.
4.) Disseminate reliable information to your membership, utilizing your every means of communication with your membership and community, such as your bulletin board, newsletter, website,Facebook, Tweeter and regular reports at meetings.
5.) Include your community leadership in your functions and events. Example: Arrange a City Proclamationfor POW/MIA Recognition Day or week. Invite the Mayor or Representatives to attend the ceremonies. Inform the local media about the activities and be prepared to answer questions about the POW/MIA issue.
REPORTS ans AWARDS
No formal reports are required.However it is suggested you send information about any/all POW/MIA events to the Department POW/MIA Chairman, through your District POW/MIA Chairperson so we can use that data as a basis for awards at the 2013 Department Convention. Please include news articles, pictures and/or other pertinemt documentation if possible.
* * *Citations will be awarded for outstanding participation in POW/MIA programs.
(NOTE:...This would be in addition to your regular Community Service Reports and any articles could be sent to CITadmin@VFWNY.com for publication in the Department Newsletter)
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is the thire (3rd) Friday in September....September 21, 2012.
Keep yourself and your membership informed. A very reliable source of information is the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families ... on line at WWW.NationalAlliance.org . To receive their on line newsletter "Bits N Pieces", E-Mail ... Lynn@NationalAlliance.org
For assistance with your program feel free to contact me at any time.
YOUR SUPPORT FOR ALL VFW PROGRAMS IS NEEDED!
Department POW/MIA Chairman: Pat Iuliucci, 112 Lambert Avenue, Farmingdale, NY 11735.
Phone: (516) 668-7383
e-mail: thevulcan325@aol.com
DISPLAY AND OBSERVANCE OF THE POW/MIA FLAG
The POW/MIA flag is an American flag designed as a symbol of citizen concern about United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war (POWs) or listed as missing in action (MIA). The POW/MIA flag was created by the National League of Families and officially recognized by the Congress in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."
The original design for this flag was created by William Graham Wilkin III. National League of Families President and POW wife Evelyn Grubb also played a major role in conceptualizing the flag and gaining its widespread acceptance and use by the United States government and also local governments and civilian organizations across the United States.
The flag has been altered many times; the colors have been switched from black with white – to red, white and blue – to white with black; the POW/MIA has at times been revised to MIA/POW.
On March 9, 1989, a league flag that had flown over the White House on the 1988 National POW/MIA Recognition Day was installed in the U.S. Capitol rotunda as a result of legislation passed by the 100th Congress. The league's POW-MIA flag is the only flag ever displayed in the rotunda, and the only one other than the Flag of the United States to have flown over the White House. The leadership of both Houses of Congress hosted the installation ceremony in a demonstration of bipartisan congressional support.
On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, recognizing the National League of Families POW/MIA Flag and designating it "as a symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation." Beyond Southeast Asia, it has been a symbol for POW/MIAs from all U.S. wars.
The POW/MIA Flag will be flown on the grounds or the public lobbies of major military installations as designated by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, all Federal National Cemeteries, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the White House, the United States Post Offices and at official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, and Director of the Selective Service System. Civilians are free to fly the POW/MIA Flag whenever they wish.
In the U.S. armed forces, the dining halls, mess halls and chow halls display a single table and chair in a corner draped with the POW-MIA flag as a symbol for the missing, thus reserving a chair in hopes of their return.
When displayed from a single flagpole, the POW/MIA flag should fly directly below, and be no larger than, the United States flag. If on separate poles, the U.S. flag should always be placed to the right of other flags [the viewer's left; the flag's own right]. The POW/MIA flag is always second in prominence to the American flag. It, too, should be placed under, or to the left (observer's right) of the U.S. flag, and to the right (observer's left) of any other flags on display. On the six national observances for which Congress has ordered display of the POW/MIA flag, it is generally flown immediately below or adjacent to the United States flag as second in order of precedence.
Congress designated the third Friday of September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day and ordered prominent display of the POW/MIA flag on this day and several other national observances, including Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day. The 1998 Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 105-85) mandates that on these national observances, the POW/MIA flag is to be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Korean and Vietnam Veterans War Memorials, the offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, offices of the Director of the Selective Service System, every major military installation (as directed by the Secretary of Defense), every post office and all Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and national cemeteries. The act also directs VA medical centers to fly the POW/MIA flag on any day on which the flag of the United States is displayed.
And finally this tidbit: I have three flags and one pole. What order should they be in?
In military use, no more than two flags may be on a single pole.
There is no official guideline for civilian use. The order, generally, is as follows, seen top to bottom:US flag POW/MIA state flags (host state first, then others in the order of admission) US territories (Washington DC, Puerto Rico, etc.) Military (in order of establishment: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard) other.
The POW/MIA Ceremony can be downloded from this link.